The present invention relates to a nut locking device to prevent unwanted or unauthorized removal of threaded nuts and, more particularly, relates to a nut locking apparatus which is self activating and may lock permanently if desired.
Nut locking mechanisms are known but all prior art disclosures use a combination of right and left hand threads, such as U.S. Pat. No. 787,088 which has a bore in the structural bolt having a reverse thread. After a nut is secured on the structural bolt, a small bolt having reverse threads is inserted into the end of the main bolt to lock the nut in place. The nut should not vibrate free but may easily be removed even without knowledge of the mechanism. U.S. Pat. Nos. 831,009, 857,526, 894,041, 932,398, 1,467,824, 2,696,236 and 4,840,529 are typical of such mechanisms.
It is a principal object of this invention to provide an improved nut locking apparatus for threaded nuts, which is simple to manufacture and use, employing only threads of one direction of rotation.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a nut locking apparatus which is self activating and may be modified to allow different levels of difficulty of removal.